Fierce Fibers

I've loved the "yarns of transformation" logo of Alchemy, and hae made many a flowering concoction of beads and knitted balls, and trinkets just to be able to grasp the concept of art and magic that their subtle dying conveys. And bamboo ,pine, silk, jadite and steel have intrigued me from other spinners of fine threads, just to give you some examples of my favorites. And as I read the lore of whitches brews, love potions and the fircests of treatments for fevers: like the henbane and wolf's bane. If I could weave just a few fibers into some flax as tribute to the women before us, it would be quite something.

Knitting on a Rainy Day

The claps of thunder were always believed to be the reeling in of the flax that Frau Holda, the supernatural matron of both spinning and childbirth. Frau Holda's cloth was finely spun linen, which she might be loaded back into the spindles at night. The threads of her flax were a bit portent, 'as many good years as many threads" and the cloth must be finished by Epiphany. Are you holding the flax, are your hands flying so fast you must stop them to stretch. Play some music from Braveheart and it will take you away to times of castles and candles and let your imagination knit wild.

Knitting and an 'Agent Provacature'

Getting to the root of why we want to knit what we are working on. It has to be the inspiration, no? We all have seminal events in our life, and some may grace your emotions with an "agent provocateur". For some of the history behind that provocative name, check the blog post on GynoGab. And for those who have an ongoing 'agent provocateur' it would be well to identify it's source. So when I knit, I take copious notes in the margins of things I've read during the day, remembered to look up, or spoke about in hushed tones late at night.

Squares and Boarders

My grandmother Pearl taught me to crochet. She and her sister Rae used to knit and crochet. They knitted an exquisite set of boy girl dolls for all the cousins, and needless to say mine didn't survive my play dramas. They also would crochet blankets for all of us. One did squares, one did boarders. One did the doll bodies, one did the clothes. What amazes me is how perfectly the gauges always match. I've madly studied my sisters dolls (the saver in the family) and it's impossible to tell two women had their hands on these dolls, they are perfect. When I got older I thought about their collaboration on colors, it wasn't anything I ever talked to them about when I was a little girl. But theirs was the endlessly beautiful granny square blankets I never tired of looking at. At their house they did more complex ivory lace spreads, and place-mats and samplers. My first little afghan I made around the age of 8 or 9 survives, not too wobbly, and I can't look at it without thinking about how I couldn't wait for grandma's visit to show her the completed project. And though I eventually taught my sisters, two daughters, a daughter-in-law to crochet I don't have that perfect harmony collaborator, although we've occasionally helped just a bit!. Now that there's a new generation, there's a part of my tiny dream: someone to share squares and the boarders with!

Is Knitting Your Raison d'être ?

Of course not! Our Raison d'être is not knitting it's being creative, through knitting. 

Knitting by the Era

I knit therefore I remember. Or at least I'm trying this. Have you memorized the order of the era's of history? Well, here's a list and as we go we will be thinking about what to knit to honor each era.
VICTORIAN: 1830-1914
ROMANTIC: early 1800s
REALISM: LATE 1800SNAPOLEONIC: 1799-1815
BAROQUE: 16th to 18th century; rococo style
ENLIGHTENMENT (RATIONALISTIC) or Age of Reason: so late 17th century
RENAISSANCE:Florence was the root: 1400s
MIDDLE: a big one, and not really in the "middle" but from about the 5th to the 11th century
DARK AGES: a phrase first used in 1602, but refers to before the Middle Ages

The Seven Virtues of Knitting

I'm liking Plato's Seven Virtues. And they certainaly apply to our knitting, so to break it down for us I have appropriately retranslated for the clicking needle set:
PRUDENCE: Finish your projects.
JUSTICE: Spend as much time and technique on the finish work as on the project
RESTRAINT: Restrain the overwhelming force of forging ahead without a gauge swatch for the fitted items
COURAGE: No pattern is too hard to try
FAITH: I think this on applied to my first attempt at turning a heel, they told me to just follow the instructions and believe it would be a heel, and it was!
HOPE: So many ways this applies, no need to elaborate!
LOVE: To thy ownself be true: color, pattern, texture